The fifth of the group accounted for the “lion’s share of social costs such as crime, welfare dependence and health care needs as adults,” the study, which was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, revealed.

These types of tests may provide hope of developing early intervention techniques to avoid such high societal costs, the scientists, from King’s College in London, Duke University in North Carolina, the University of Otago in New Zealand, stated.

“There is a powerful connection from children’s early beginnings to where they end up,” said Avshalo, Caspi, a King’s College Professor.

“The purpose of this was not to use these data to complicate children’s lives any further. It’s to say these children need a lot of resources, and helping them could yield a remarkable return on investment when they grow up.”